Keeping a watch
by Tearing you asunder
Summary: Elena was six when she first believed in magic.
1. Chapter 1

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Elena was six when she first believed in magic.

It was one of those days. School was out for the holidays and Uncle John was in town.

Elena didn't like it when he was in Mystic Falls. Uncle John was always fun, he let her have more ice cream than Mommy liked, he told her all kinds of stories of ghosts and vampire and werewolves.

But he also always fought with Mommy and Daddy too. Sometimes these fights would go on for so very long and they sit up in the study with the big heavy doors closed so Elena couldn't understand the words they were saying. But they were still too loud and Elena heard bits and pieces of it at least. It confused her, Uncle John talked about his daughter a lot but if she had a cousin then why did he never bring her around to play with her?

Uncle John was fun. But Uncle John was weird too.

Jeremy, the little cry baby, was angry at her because Uncle John brought her a big doll house but only got him a little car so he had gone to Tyler's house to play. And Bonnie's grandmama had taken her out to see the college where she taught and Caroline was at her aunts' for the entire holiday.

Elena was all alone and she didn't want to stay in the house any longer, not with everybody shouting so much. So she got onto her pretty blue bicycle with the white basket in the front and pedalled away to the Tree house. She wasn't supposed to go there alone, Daddy had said, but they were all still yelling and Elena didn't want to stay in the house anymore.

She wriggled her way up onto the deck, her tiny legs too small for her to climb the steps properly and went into the house, only to find someone already there. She was sitting on the chair near the window in a pretty blue dress the exact colour as Cinderella's and wearing pointy shoes like the ones Mommy wore when she and Daddy had their date nights.

"What have we here?" The woman said, standing up only to bend down to look at her and smiled. "I didn't think little kittens would make their way up here all on their own."

"I'm not a kitten! I'm a girl." Elena said and felt foolish even as she said it. Of course the woman knew she was a girl, she was only teasing Elena.

The woman laughed softly, "My mistake, may I know your name then dearest?"

"I'm Elena Gilbert!" Elena told the woman, whom she was certain was some kind of fairy princess.

"Well then Miss Elena Gilbert, I am Sara Haraldsdottir, at your service." She said and curtsied.

"What are you doing in our tree house?"

"My sister used to live just down the street many years ago, you see. And I was looking for where her house used to be and I was walking and walking and would you believe, I just got lost!"

Elena couldn't help the giggle as Miss Sara enacted the whole story and made funny faces the whole time along. Like on Sundays when the bookshop did the book reading. Mrs Cole ,who ran it, was reading them George's Marvellous Medicine but she never made the faces to go with it.

Elena liked Miss Sara.

"Do you wanna play a game?" She asked and Miss Sara grinned and agreed. Elena pulled the treasure chest with all their board games in it out from under the table.

And then Elena found out something _amazing_! Miss Sara was _magic_.

Miss Sara waved her hand and the games came alive. The mouse from Mouse trap began running around the board and they giggled and laughed trying to catch him. In Guess Who, all the people kept on talking, trying to convince Elena it was them. The Hungry hippos ate all the balls and began yawning and took naps because they were too full.

Elena giggled and laughed the whole afternoon away. She quite forgot that she had only gone there to get away from all the yelling because of all the fun she was having and then Miss Sara read her a book, making all the voices and all the funny faces.

It was the best day ever.

Before Elena knew it, the sky was beginning to darken and it was time to go home.

Miss Sara must have noticed it as well because she got up from the chair and dusted off her skirt, "Well, little kitten, I think it's time we got you back home. Your parents must be missing you."

"I guess so," Elena pouted. She knew her Mommy and Daddy would worry but Miss Sara had _magic!_

And it was even better outside! When Miss Sara walked her back home all the gardens and the trees burst in flowers. Even Mrs Hess' bushes, which she always forgot to water and were very dry and thorny, grew little yellow rosebuds. Elena made awed noises and giggled in alternation but soon enough they were home.

She could see from the window that her parents and Uncle John were still fighting and sighed.

"It's not always like this, I hope?"

"Only when Uncle John is here." Elena turned to see Miss Sara frowning at the house, unhappy. "Are you going to your sister's house now?"

Miss Sara gasped in surprise, "Oh, not really. She doesn't live there anymore, I just thought it would nice to see…"

Elena frowned, thinking of everyone who lived near the tree house. No one new had come to stay there in all her years. Miss Sara's sister must have lived there a very long time ago. Maybe Mommy and Daddy would know. "What's her name?"

"...Tatia." Miss Sara said softly as if she was going to cry. Elena didn't want her to cry so she tugged at her skirt a little and Miss Sara smiled. "It's getting late, I must be going now."

Elena pouted but just then she heard her mother calling out for her and turned to answer. When she looked back Miss Sara was nowhere to be seen.

Like _magic_

"Elena, what were you doing, you know you're not supposed to go out of the house all on your own!"

"Bu-"

"No buts, young lady. Up to your room now or I won't let you play with Bonnie tomorrow."

Scowling, Elena stomped up the stairs. A car was pulling up on the driveway and she knew Jeremy was back. But when she opened the door to her room, she found a little present waiting for her. A box in sparkly blue that had Elena's name on it. She opened it up to find a black and white cat made out of folded paper in it. And when Elena went to lift it out of the box it sprang up and purred. The little paper cat meowed and walked across her room before coming back to her, a little pink paper tongue licking at her face.

'A kitten for a kitten' the letter inside said and Elena giggled, quite forgetting that she had been scolded.

Uncle John and her parents could fight all they wanted as long as she still had Miss Sara's magic cat.

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	2. Chapter 2

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Sheila Bennett didn't care much about Elena. She was Bonnie's best friend, this much she knew but far more importantly, the child was a doppelganger. When the time would come, and with the comet's path crossing over their sky in only a few years it would come sooner than Sheila liked, the doppelganger would drag her granddaughter into the turmoil and tragedy that was her fate. It wasn't her fault, it was only her destiny, after all.

But, no, Sheila didn't particularly care for her.

And yet, the girl stood in front of her with her wide child's eyes, hope glimmering in them and she could not _believe_ what had been asked of her.

"You want me to tell you about magic?"

"Bonnie says you talk about it all the time." She said, her voice pitched up as it was want to do, puberty still a ways away.

It was true, Sheila did talk of magic to her granddaughter but it was supposed to be their thing, not secret perhaps but still sacred. But Bonnie hadn't cared about magic since Abby had left and Sheila supposed she shouldn't be surprised by the careless way Bonnie treated their talks.

But it still hurt.

Of all things she would have expected to do, explaining magic to an eager doppelganger was not one of them. But, it only made sense that the child shoul know what the consequences of her actions could be so Sheila would tell her.

"What do you want to know?" She asked and a wide grin split the child's face as she let out a breathy little glee filled noise, the gleam in her eyes shining bright. The tales said that the doppelgangers had a way about them, a certain charm. It was only now that Sheila could believe it.

" _Everything_."

* * *

Miss Sara leaves her presents. There is no rhyme or reason to them, Elena doesn't wake up on her birthday to find a gift box, she doesn't find things on the anniversary of the day they met, no.

They are entirely random. Some of them are magic, like the paper cat that comes alive when Elena is near, the one she named Mr Worcestershire, a little pendant that when opened has music come out of it, Miss Sara singing a soft song in a strange language that helps Elena sleep when she has nightmares or a clear ball that when rattled smells like the ocean. Some are entirely plain, a hair clip with apples on it, a box of caramel fudge, a keychain with a phone box decoration, Russian nesting dolls and more.

Elena loves them all equally but she loves it even more when she gets to meet Miss Sara. Years stretch between the times she meets her but every single occasion is just as precious as the one before. On those times Miss Sara tells her stories of the world from many years ago. Of Vikings and French queens, of Russian royalty and Salem witches. Elena's favourite story was of a little Spanish lord's birthday with a swan made of cake and meringue that his mother, a witch, enchanted to so it would fly, dropping little pieces of nougat over the room.

Sometimes Elena wishes she had magic but then she remembers what Bonnie's grandmama said about the Balance. Elena doesn't think she'd be very good at it. Sometimes she worries how Bonnie will do it but Bonnie doesn't believe in magic at all and her grandmama wants to wait until she grows a bit before showing it to her. Elena can't wait for it, then maybe Mr Worcestershire would play with Bonnie too.

* * *

Elena is fourteen and it's her second date with Matt. She is nervous, more so than on the first one. Elena's developed a bit of a reputation for being odd, all because she still believes in magic, something her peers grew out of long ago. But Elena believes. She listens to what Grandmama Bennett says, goes hiking into the woods to collect the herbs Grandmama Bennett wants, tries to be a good and understanding person so that she doesn't disturb the Balance.

She doesn't talk about it as much, though, and so people accept her. She is odd but not an oddity.

But she is still odd. So she hadn't expected Matt to ask her out. Hadn't expected to say yes in the moment of shock. Hadn't expected it to be fun enough that he would ask her out on a second date.

She stares into the mirror wondering what to do with her hair, shaking with nerves. The sudden sound of Mr Worcestershire's happy purrs distract her though, he only purrs when he is petted and she turns to see Miss Sara sitting on the little seat in the window niche. She grins, nearly squealing in excitement and does a little mental math. It has been a year and a half since she saw her last.

"Today is my second date!" She blurts out. No greeting, no hello, no I missed you. And when Miss Sara gasps she thinks it must be because she was rude.

"But you're only ten, that's not old enough to go on dates, is it?!"

Elena laughs, "I'm fourteen Miss Sara."

"Fourteen?!" Miss Sara frowns. "I'm very bad with time." She says apologetically.

"Is that why you haven't visited me in nearly two years?"

"Two years? How odd, I didn't think it had been that long." Miss Sara sighs, "I'm afraid then that it might be very long before I get to meet you again."

The smile Elena's been sporting drops. "You're leaving again?"

"I'm looking for some people, you see. Only...I don't think I'm very good at it at all. Nearly two years, you say?"

"Can't they just call you or something."

"The dead can't call. Well at least, they can't call _me_. I'm not really very good at magic."

Elena blinks and points at the paper cat that is licking itself indulgently. Miss Sara seems plenty good at magic to her.

"Oh no, I meant useful magic like the bits the Bennett witches and their likes do. This is little stuff. A bit of happiness isn't complicated."

Elena would disagree. From what she's seen of all the people around her, happiness seems to be very complicated.

"Who are these dead people you're looking for?" Elena brightens, "Maybe I can help!"

"Oh no, it's difficult. I'm looking for my family and they're spread all over the world because of the European diaspora that went hand in hand with colonial times. There's a dig in Israel that's going on and it might turn up a few relatives of mine who died in the Crusades."

"What's it like?" Elena asks, all wide eyes. She's never been out of the country before. She's been to Washington on school trips but nowhere farther than that.

"I-Oh, but it's a long story and I thought you had your second date?" And all the nervousness that Elena had forgotten to feel while talking to Miss Sara returned.

"I don't know what to do with my hair!"

Miss Sara laughs, "Let me see what I can do"

Within minutes, maybe using one of her 'little magics' she braids a crown onto Elena's head and just in time too as the bell rang.

"That must be Matt," Elena says and turns to Miss Sara, trying to burn her image into memory. It would be a long time before they would meet again, Miss Sara had said.

"Go have fun," Miss Sara smiles, "I'll get you a present when I come back."

And with a little wave of her hand she disappears.

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	3. Chapter 3

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'I'm only human after all,' Sara thought to herself as she sat in the plane on her way to Rio De Janeiro, exhausted beyond belief. 'Immortal perhaps, but human.'

Sara had said that all those hundreds of years ago to her nephew. 'I might live forever but I cannot save your kin. Not when the blood of the doppelganger runs through them.'

'Don't save them but just...mourn them.' Her little Taavi, the only thing she had left of her beloved sister had said in reply, 'The portents say tragedy and disaster follows in our footsteps. Those who bring chaos aren't often missed by those they leave behind.'

So Sara followed. She tried to watch over then the best she could but it was _hard_. Taavi's children Helga and Bjarni, caught up in the storm that was the world discovering itself, had scattered to the winds, their kin getting lost with them. Only now, with the tools of this new world was she able to better find them and finally, _finally_ keep up. Now, when she no longer had to spend years on journeys just to chase down a rumour, now, when the Families had dwindled away and could no longer run, it was easy to find them. In unmarked graves and the unnamed background characters in paintings she found them, from archaeological digs and folktales alike. In the last century alone, through the wonders of DNA testing she had had found more of her kin, albeit dead, than in the last thousand years of wanderous, meticulous searching.

Helga's children had fled to Europe in an attempt to escape the war between vampire and werewolves that had been started by Mikael, and Sara hadn't followed them swiftly enough. It had taken decades for her to find the clans they had settled into, the Petrova one remaining the most prolific of them all but even that came to an end soon enough. The rest had died before them, taken by the Crusades, by the plagues, by famines and by revolutions. Katerina's bastard child's line had survived but was just as difficult to track once it came out that Nadia had only had the child to continue her line and given it up as soon as it was out of her, not even bothering to find out whether it was a boy or a girl.

Sara mourned those the most, those unnamed ones who had been left to rot by the ones who should have loved them. She did not care for Katerina or Nadia whose obsessions lay within themselves and immortality, nor for Oleg, the terrible man so proud of his magic that he paid no mind to the wealth he had in the form of his loving family.

But Patrick who had worked in the mines in a time with no safety regulations even though his lungs were weak, all to provide for the sickly boy his wife had borne, whose tale she heard from his grieving widow, _he_ would be mourned. Martha, the suffragette who died of pneumonia after being force fed, _she_ was mourned.

Those who lived their lives _well_ were mourned.

And now Helga's ten children and all their clans had dwindled down into this one person, little darling Elena Gilbert. So much like Tatia and so very young. Then again they always were. Well, that wasn't quite fair, it wasn't that they were young but that Sara was old.

Old and _tired_. But for the sake of family, anything.

And all her research pointed to the last of Bjarni's line having ended up in Brazil. Helga's line was easier to track, the direct line of the doppelgangers running through them, attracting tragedy like none other. But Bjarni, oh the boy had spread his oats around far and wide. Her grand nephew had always been a bit of a dog.

One day, once the supernatural caught up to Elena as it most definitely would, and she learned she was a doppelganger, maybe she'd like to know of the family she had still. Maybe she'd like to go through the book Sara kept close to herself with the names and deeds of all of their kin she had tracked down.

One day.

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	4. Chapter 4

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Elena set the water on the boil for her tea. The kitten shaped infuser was ready to be deployed and once the kettle whistled she poured the water out with shaking hands. A soft meow broke her out of her thoughts and she turned to see Mr Worcestershire staring at her with his tail in the wind, swishing from one side to the other. It was almost enough to make her laugh.

 _Almost_.

She hadn't laughed much, or at all really, since the night her parents died.

Since her life had gone to shit.

She should have known, should have expected it. Hadn't she heard Bonnie's Grandmama tell her that this was the year when the comet would return bringing tragedy with it? Hadn't she realised it when the benign stranger, Damon, who wanted to talk about relationships had turned out to be a fucking _vampire_ who tried to compel her memories of him away?

She should have made her parents take some other road. Should have never called them to pick her up.

Should have, would have, could have.

Didn't change anything though.

Now, she was seventeen, post her first birthday without her parents there to 'surprise' her, and preparing for her first day of junior year. Now, she was all alone in the house because Jeremy and Jenna were out.

It was the worst summer ever. Elena was honestly glad it was coming to an end and she would have school to distract her. But it worried her too.

Her brother worried her especially.

Already she had had to give her little, itty-bitty, baby brother a lecture on how his following Vicki around like a puppy bordered on sexual harassment and that stalking was wrong. Elena still couldn't believe that that was something she _actually_ had to say.

It was made worse by the fact that Aunt Jenna was clearly unprepared for taking care of them. She had been living off cup noodles and alcohol for the past so many years, only stopping when she came down to visit them, and even now, she was still grieving her sister just like they were doing their parents. They couldn't expect her to take care of them.

How could she fix this? How could she fix the madness that their lives had become? Elena just didn't know what to do.

"Miss Sara would know what to do", she said to Mr Worcestershire who licked his paw in silent response.

"I'm glad you think so highly of me," came the answer in the musical voice Elena had been dying to hear for the past so many years said and the mug full of vervain and lemon tea Elena was sipping slipped from her hands, crashing to the ground. Ignoring the burn of the hot beverage seeping through her socks, Elena rushed to throw herself at Miss Sara and burst into the ugly sobs she had been holding back for _months_ , relieved.

* * *

Time taught Sara many tricks, one being a level of multitasking that went beyond the norm. On one level, she listened to Elena tell her of what had happened to her parents and Sara grieved for Elena's innocence, was relieved that Elena had survived, worried about how her guardian wasn't in the best of places to take care of her.

On another level she marvelled at how much Elena had grown. She was Tatia's doppelganger, of course, but now she was in the bloom of her youth and looked just as Sara's sister had done when she died. Elena was seventeen now. Sara remembered when Tatia was seventeen, she was giving birth to Taavi. She herself had only been nine at the time. And then, another year later, Tatia was dead.

And on yet another level, she scanned the house for the Little Magic she had done that needed to be renewed. The dreamcatcher needed to be cleansed, so very full of terrible things. Elena had been having too many nightmares, poor dear.

But smart girl. People got complacent about things, especially things they had never encountered before. That Elena had been smart enough to take vervain every day just on the off chance of meeting a vampire was far more than Sara could have expected. Some people needed to see to believe, and consequently, fear. But her Elena just went on believing. It was wonderful and rare, especially in this modern world.

Still in her arms, although not sobbing anymore, Elena shrugged when Sara said this.

"I have a lot of reminders of things most people don't believe in," The meow from the cat she had named Mr Worcestershire made that obvious and Sara turned to look at him.

He was the first piece of magic she had done in centuries that had drawn from herself and not from nature. Oh, Sara had asked for Nature's blessings and been given them, of course, but the paper cat had come to life with a bit of herself in it. Sara had never needed to renew the magic in him after which was most surprising. She had given him life, Elena had nurtured him and now, he was an entity of his own.

Elena sighed again, "Anyway, it's the mundane side of things that are giving me a stomach ache, not the vervain. Haven't even seen the vampire around much for all he said he was 'back in town'." She burrowed herself into Sara's collarbone, sniffing. "I miss Dad's pancakes."

"I'm fairly certain they came from a box." Sara couldn't help but say. She had seen the box out on the counter one day when she was sneaking into the house.

"I know but they don't taste the same," Elena grumbled. "Will you stay?"

"Might be a wee bit difficult to explain the magical woman living in your house, kitten." Elena pulled away, floundering. She paced the floor muttering under her breath, 'Maybe the Lockwood, Caroline likes to pick up strays, Bonnie's grandmama'-and it was that which had Sara spiralling into a int of panic. Getting her living arrangements fixed up with a Bennett witch was the worst things she could think of. "I can get myself a place nearby, don't worry." She said quickly before Elena could drag her to a Bennett's attention.

"So," Elena said, eyes wide and shiny, "You'll stay."

And Sara who hadn't spent more than a week in Mystic Falls since her nephew's death sighed. "I'll stay."

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	5. Chapter 5

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Something was up with Elena. Bonnie knew there was, she knew it even before she saw Elena for that first day of school (and not because of any witchy powers like Grams talked about) because Jeremy of all people, _Jeremy_ whose relationship with his sister was tenuous at best, stopped by her side of the car as she waited outside to _tell_ her so.

Jeremy, who didn't voluntarily talk to anyone who wasn't asking for his 'herbal' wares, went out of his way to tell her that he was worried about Elena. Something had him spooked and Bonnie wanted to know just what it was.

She could see it as soon as Elena stepped out of the house. Because she was _smiling_. And not just her fake little 'I'm fine, thank you' smile but a genuine grin. She wasn't even this happy when her parents had still been alive, Bonnie hadn't seen her this happy since…

Since three years ago, Elena's second date with Matt. She had the same smile back then, the one that seemed almost mysterious but still bursting with joy, as if she had a secret that she really desperately wanted to share with the world.

"Good morning!" She said chirpily as she belted herself in.

"Elena, don't take this the wrong way but...did your therapist by any chance prescribe some happy pills to you? Did you get in Jeremy's stash or something?"

Elena laughed, head thrown back and all, the thin little braid down the side of her face thwacking into the headrest of the seat. Bonnie's worries grew.

"No, nothing like that, just an old family friend that I really missed has _finally_ agreed to stay in town for a while."

Bonnie had questions, so many questions. But it was getting late so she decided to drive and ask all her many questions on the way to school rather than just sitting there gaping at Elena, for all that she really wanted to do that.

"So, an old family friend huh? Jeremy didn't mention that." Bonnie asked as she turned the left to the main street.

"Jeremy and Jenna don't really know her. I actually met her when Uncle John was in town, you know how it got when he was in the house."

"Ohhh yeah," Bonnie remembered well. It was during one of his visits that they had figured out what the liquor cabinet was and that it wasn't just a hiding place to keep them from getting into the cookies.

"She would sort of babysit me when the drama would start. You know that London bus keychain and the Russian nesting dolls? She was the one who got them for me. I'm so excited!" Elena squeaked and wiggled in the car and Bonnie joined in with a chuckle as well. So, Elena was excited that a cool, well-travelled aunt like figure was staying, it was pretty sweet. "I have a good feeling this year, even with the comet."

"The comet?"

"Oh, your grandma didn't tell you?" And Bonnie's cheerful mood dulled.

She would never fully forgive her grams for infecting Elena with the magical belief and crap. It was bad enough hearing it from her but Elena joining in on this farce wasn't appreciated.

"She was telling me about the Salem stuff," Bonnie said and Elena picked up the conversation like she knew she would.

"It's pretty interesting, there are these pockets of communities that are well aware of the supernatural and its creatures, even our town has a history-" Bonnie tuned it out and focussed on the road. Ancestors never meant anything to her. Her most close ancestor was her mother, the runaway woman who couldn't handle raising her. She was more concerned about passing US history this year than learning about her family history.

Besides, she had other things to worry about. Like that weird feeling she kept getting (which was most certainly not psychic) and wondering just who this mystery family friend Elena was so excited about was.

* * *

Elena was happy and she didn't even have to fake it. She was so happy that she had the strength to corner Matt and tell him that their priorities and belief systems were too different and it wasn't her parents' death that had caused their breakup and that he should suck it up. She was so happy that when Caroline had tried to strangle her with a too tight hug, she had strangled her right back and lifted her off the ground and spun her around for a joke. She was so happy that when Jeremy's drug dealing ways were made obvious she just yelled out that as the elder she had first access to their finances and she wasn't going to pay for a good lawyer so he should pray the public defender he got assigned was good.

She was so happy that Tanner was made uncomfortable by her cheery and correct answers to his quizzing.

She was so happy she didn't even think twice about the new student. That changed when Caroline brought him to their table in Mystic Grill.

"Everybody, this is Stefan, Stefan this is Elena and Bonnie,"

"Also otherwise known as everybody." Elena couldn't help but say. She was in a good mood.

Miss Sara had said that she had a family tradition to share, something her sister did when her husband died, her father did when her mother died and something she had done many times as well, a way of saying goodbye the ones you had lost and sending your prayers and good wishes to them.

She was even going to come to Mystic Grill to pick her up which meant her friends could finally meet her.

Elena was so _excited_.

"Stefan's an odd name."

"It's a variant of Stephen." Stefan explained.

"Exactly, most people are named Stephen or Steven. It's like hearing Damon instead of Damien I suppose." Elena mused out loud and Stefan suddenly gasped.

"Where have you heard that name?" He asked urgently and a look around the table told Elena that she wasn't the only one freaked out by his behaviour.

"There was this weird guy on the night of the bonfire…" Elena trailed off. Thinking of the bonfire made her think of her parents' death.

An almost silent expletive left Stefan's mouth and Elena's attention was caught. Now that she looked at him closely, she saw the lapis lazuli ring on his hand.

Vampire.

"Five feet nine, dark hair, pale eyes, sort of creepy?" Elena's nod had Stefan cursing again, "That's my brother, he's...bad news. I didn't know he was in town, this is bad." Stefan rubbed his face and Elena's suspicions were absolutely confirmed.

A pair of vampire brothers at odds with one another who both just happened to stumble upon her in town? Yeah, she didn't think so.

It was really quite excellent that she was on vervain.

"I have to warn my uncle," Stefan said and stood, grabbing his things off the table, "If you guys see or meet him just...be a bit cautious."

"Elena?", came the voice she had been waiting to hear and Stefan stopped in his steps to see who spoke, in a way that was unusual. Everyone else had turned too but he was the only one who had turned so fast as to almost make his vampirism obvious.

There was something going on with the vampire brothers and it had to do with _her._ Elena didn't like that.

But more importantly, Miss Sara had arrived.

"Guys, this is Miss Sara, Bonnie I told you about her."

"Ms Bennett and Ms Forbes, I assume?" Miss Sara said and the two looked dazed. Elena knew that feeling. Miss Sara didn't have to do magic to just exude otherworldliness. There was something about her, the cadence of her voice, the floating way she walked, she was just awesome that way.

And now, _everyone_ would know just how awesome she was.

"And this is Stefan Salvatore." Elena said. The vampire had stopped in his tracks, all the panic and rush he was exuding a few seconds ago, gone. Instead he was eyeing Miss Sara curiously, as if trying to figure her out.

"Of the Salvatore Boarding house?" Miss Sara asked and he nodded. "How lovely, we'll be housemates then,"

"What?!"

"It _is_ a boarding house, after all. I'll be spending most of my time with Elena of course but I do need a place to keep my luggage."Stefan stuttered but Miss Sara turned to Elena instead, ignoring the vampire's struggle, "Which reminds me, are you ready?"

Elena all but jumped at Miss Sara, raring to go.

"Where are you guys going?" Caroline asked and Miss Sara grinned.

"That's a bit of a secret I'm, afraid."

* * *

Elena stood next to Miss Sara at Stephen's Quarry with the letter she had written to her parents in her hand. The waning moon still shone bright enough that they didn't need much of a light and the runes Miss Sara was tracing into the long piece of bark they had foraged from the ground were glowing white. Miss Sara had taught her enough of the script for her to make out a few words, 'mother', 'father' and 'lost' among the few she recognised.

It was a prayer for safe passage into the other world, Miss Sara had said. When it was finally done Elena put the letter onto the bark and set it to float onto the waters of the Quarry, giving it a gentle push. Miss Sara floated a light over it and they watched its slow path towards the center of the waters, the glowing runes fading away one by one as it got floated away from them. When the final glowing rune turned dark the piece of bark stopped suddenly, all the ripples surrounding its movement smoothing out into a glassy surface. Within that second and the next the bark and the letter that rested upon it disappeared.

"Your request was judged true and pure and the Powers have allowed your words passage to your loved ones. Be at peace."

And Elena was.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧


End file.
